Steelmaking Is Trying to Make Itself Greener and Researchers May Have Found a Way

Steelmaking is one of the most carbon-intensive industries in the world, but researchers may have found a way to make it greener.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham in the U.K. in a paper published this month said carbon dioxide emitted from the blast furnaces used to make steel could be recycled using perovskite, a crystal containing barium carbonate, calcium carbonate, iron ore and niobium.

If it were to be introduced into the U.K. steelmaking blast furnace system, it could cut operating costs as well as "reduce steel sector emissions by 88%" said Harriet Kildahl, who led the study, which is being published in the Journal of Cleaner Production.

A weekly look at environmental, social and governance issues and strategies for corporate decision makers.

Ms. Kildahl said in the paper that double perovskite can be used to split carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, which is then used in place of metallurgical coal to reduce iron ore into metallic iron. The metallic iron is used to make steel. The method would reduce costs by cutting the metallurgical coal needed.

The system essentially creates a closed loop where the carbon split using the perovskite is put back into the system.

"After five years, this system would save the U.K. steel industry £1.28 billion [equivalent to $1.57 billion], while reducing UK-wide emissions by 2.9%," Ms. Kildahl said. "Implementation of this system in the world's BF-BOFs [blast furnace-basic oxygen furnaces] could allow the steel sector to decarbonise in line with the Paris Climate Agreement to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius."

Converting the U.K.'s furnaces to the new process is estimated to cost £720 million and could be paid back in just under two years through the savings of no longer needing metallurgical coal and selling oxygen as a byproduct.

Steel uses more coal than any sector outside of power generation, price-reporting agency Argus Media's U.K.-lead on steel, Colin Richardson, said in an email.

"The need to decarbonize is very clear," said Mr. Richardson.

Steelmaking makes up roughly 8% of greenhouse-gas emissions, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.

"European steelmakers are undoubtedly intensifying their efforts to decarbonize at the behest of society at large, and as some of their customers—auto makers, in particular—want to reduce the emissions intensity of their inputs. Companies in other large end-use sectors, such as white goods producers, are also looking to future-proof their supply chains," he said. White goods include consumer products like washing machines, dishwashers and refrigerators.

Mr. Richardson did, however, caution that new breakthrough technologies need time for development and capital investment before a switch to a new system can be implemented.

"There are projects that have been in development for years and they have still not been rolled out on a commercial scale—for example, Tata Steel ‘s Hisarna plant. Any new breakthrough tech is going to take time—and perhaps too much time in light of the Paris Agreement—to roll out, " he said.

Efforts have already been made within Europe to decarbonize steelmaking. For example, H2 Green Steel in Sweden is looking to cut carbon emissions by using hydrogen as a fuel source.

Write to Yusuf Khan at [email protected]

Appeared in the January 25, 2023, print edition as 'Researchers Find Way to Make Steelmaking Greener.'

Corporate leaders reveal their attitudes about managing ESG third-party risks and how those potential threats relate to assessment maturity, data quality, and reporting.

The Loan Programs Office plays a critical role financing commercialization of clean energy innovations that are mature from a technology standpoint but not when it comes to accessing to capital.

Companies can leverage their existing governance and control activities to establish controls over sustainability reporting. COSO's generally accepted framework can help.

The Wall Street Journal news department was not involved in the creation of this content.